FA Package Surprisingly Awarded No Need Based Scholarships--HELP?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>Hello! I was accepted to Swarthmore ED for the class of 2017 last December, but my financial aid didn't come with the acceptance letter because there were some additional forms they wanted us to fill out. Prior to applying, we did the online estimator and found that Swarthmore would likely be around $25,000 a year--not too bad for our family, so we figured that we would be safe applying ED considering how generous they usually are with FA.</p>

<p>I just got an email today with the FA results and, unfortunately, we were not awarded any money whatsoever. Both of my parents were astounded, and there is no way we would be able to pay nearly $60,000 a year. </p>

<p>I honestly just don't know what to do. I have already been accepted to a state flagship university, but that's it, and I really do not want to go there. The deadline has passed for most schools already, and there would only be a day to apply to schools with a deadline of the 15th (Carleton, Grinnell, Kenyon, etc.) but their FA packages would likely turn out to be the same, right?</p>

<p>Any ideas as to what I should do? Call the FA office at Swarthmore? Apply elsewhere? Talk to an accountant? Cry?</p>

2

<p>Parents should deal with the financial aid office, not the student! </p>

<p>Were all the forms filled out correctly? If there was a mistake when you applied for financial aid then that could be part of the problem.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the response, slumom. </p>

<p>My parents aren’t too well versed with the whole college process. Also, I’m just trying to get some information that I could potentially relay to my parents or do myself. Like, for example, if I should start whipping up some supplemental essays.</p>

<p>To the best of our knowledge, they were. My mother said that she even went to our accountant to fill some of them out. But it’s still a possibility, I suppose.</p>

4

<p>Something is wrong. Did you compare what you put into calculator vs your CSS Profile? Do comparison and then call financial aid office to understand discrepancy. In terms of other schools, YES if you can still submit. At least you will have options.</p>

5

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1447094-swarthmore-fa-package-surprisingly-awarded-no-need-based-scholarships-help.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1447094-swarthmore-fa-package-surprisingly-awarded-no-need-based-scholarships-help.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’ve been having a very helpful discussion at the above link.</p>

6

<p>^^It so happens that there is an article in today’s Education section of the NYT on this very subject. It seems the more complex and detailed (and difficult to fill out) the website, the greater the odds it will prove accurate when the actual package comes through:
<a href=“College Cost Calculators Offer Clarity and Confusion - The New York Times”>College Cost Calculators Offer Clarity and Confusion - The New York Times;

7

<p>Circuit, great article. Thanks for posting.</p>

8

<p>(MaryMac15535’s mom here) Did you file both the CSS Profile & the FAFSA? Swarthmore would need the info from both of those before they could make a proper financial aid award.
I’m guessing you probably filled out a paper financial aid form from Swarthmore (our daughter received one of those last fall). Because my spouse is self-employed (& thus our tax figures vary from year to year and can’t be estimated), we waited until this month to start financial aid paperwork (since MaryMac15535 was applying RD to Swarthmore, we weren’t in as much of a rush as your folks were). The main Swarthmore financial aid page is currently saying that 2013-2014 financial aid forms will be available on their website as of 02/08/2013 - but they still have a link to a PDF financial aid form.
Does anyone know if the Swarthmore financial aid form can be completed online?</p>

9

<p>MaryMacMom – it doesn’t look to me as if it can be submitted online. Am I really filling out last year’s form? I didn’t notice anything saying that new forms would be posted. Guess I’ll hold off on the paper form.</p>

<p>(By the way, OP used their online Net Price Calculator.)</p>

10

<p>MaryMacMom - I think you are looking at the information for current students rather than prospective students. My son was accepted Early Decision I, and we did start to fill out last year’s form, but it was updated early or mid November.</p>